tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post2830354868336875858..comments2015-05-02T05:00:20.708-07:00Comments on Idealistic Pragmatist: Dead sparrowsIdealistic Pragmatisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18296481430598981678noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-36066881298154344722010-03-22T22:11:19.630-07:002010-03-22T22:11:19.630-07:00Bottom Line:
Corporations - 1
US electorate - 0
...Bottom Line:<br /><br />Corporations - 1<br />US electorate - 0<br /><br />Game over . . . .West End Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04899808253017644309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-45567203992951634442010-03-22T14:49:36.501-07:002010-03-22T14:49:36.501-07:00Tyrone,
A few points:
1. Your claim that the U.S...Tyrone,<br /><br />A few points:<br /><br />1. Your claim that the U.S. is &quot;expanding its social programs&quot; in general on the basis of the creation of one social program is really farfetched, and the claim that the U.S. is the only democracy to be doing so is even more so. If I can point out that the current Dutch government created a new social programme to fight poverty in 40 problem areas, does that mean that country is generally increasing its social programmes? (It certainly doesn&#39;t mean that nobody else in the democratic world is doing it, because we now have two examples in a single comment thread...)<br /><br />2. If it were simply a matter of this new legislation being &quot;not good enough,&quot; I might actually be more sympathetic to it. But when it&#39;s still all about private insurance, the new difference being that people are now forced to buy it, my characterization has to be &quot;not good&quot; rather than &quot;not good enough.&quot; I remain to be convinced that this legislation will help more people than it will hurt. And I can&#39;t praise the current government for an &quot;accomplishment&quot; that &quot;eluded&quot; other administrations when that&#39;s the case.<br /><br />3. So very much beside the point, but: saying &quot;but, but...he&#39;s not white!&quot; really smacks of looking very hard for reasons to praise the U.S. based on something that happens to be relevant to you. As a queer woman, I suppose I could do the same: I could praise Germany for having a government that&#39;s led by a woman and a gay man, and point out that other countries aren&#39;t as far along. But doing that would seem silly to me when their policies are pretty darn regressive!<br /><br />4. I am not saying that the Democrats aren&#39;t doing anything good. If they do pass sensible climate change and immigration bills, more power to them. The point of this post is not to say that Democrats are crap, it&#39;s to say that the U.S. is crap, because every shred of evidence history has presented to us suggests that what we see there right now is almost certainly the very pinnacle of how good it&#39;s ever going to be. And sure, if it floats your boat, you can pat the Democrts on the back about their government being momentarily on the good side of worldwide trends, but a) that&#39;s hardly surprising, if things are the best there that they&#39;re ever going to be, and b) that&#39;s hardly the point, when there isn&#39;t a snowball&#39;s chance in hell of getting beyond &quot;better than they were a couple of years ago&quot; and actually reaching &quot;good.&quot;Jae/Jenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607520034520271802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-35186292514358558332010-03-22T11:14:46.226-07:002010-03-22T11:14:46.226-07:00You did mention leaving the US for Canada, so that...You did mention leaving the US for Canada, so that&#39;s why I mentioned that. But even leaving that out, the basis of my optimism is simply the fact that the US elected this president and this Congress in the first place. As you said, that&#39;s rare. <br /><br />And the last two times this happened (1992 and 1976) the president and Congress failed to pass anything even remotely consequential as this bill. In 1976, they didn&#39;t even make a serious attempt. And bills on climate change and immigration reform may yet be in the cards.<br /><br />I am not claiming this bill gives the US a health care system the equal of Canada or even Switzerland. But at least the US political system pulled itself together and passed a bill that has eluded the Democratic president/congresses of 1992, 1976, 1960, 1948, 1932, and 1916. If it could pass this, it may yet pass others before the elections. And even if the Democrats&#39; majority is lost, the Republicans won&#39;t be able to undo what they have accomplished.<br /><br />I know of no other developed country that is expanding its social programs. The talk everywhere for 30 years has been how much to cut, and where.<br /><br />You are probably right on the sex ed and campaign finance issues, but can I point out the issue of race? America has a black president. Immigrants, at least legal ones, are welcomed and treated as equals. Every other Western country regards nonwhites as at best a problem to be fixed, at worst an enemy within to be avoided or expelled. I cannot imagine anyone except the USA electing a nonwhite head of government.Tyronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04517491466629482995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-56681136040938251772010-03-22T10:23:26.332-07:002010-03-22T10:23:26.332-07:00Tyrone,
This post isn&#39;t about Canada, and it&...Tyrone,<br /><br />This post isn&#39;t about Canada, and it&#39;s nonsensical to try to twist this discussion to make it about comparing the two countries. This post is about the situation in the U.S.<br /><br />First of all, I&#39;m not at all convinced that things are improving in the U.S. with respect to the social situation. I had a great, open, and honest sex ed course in school; my friends kids are lucky to have much of anything at all. The &quot;corporation is a person&quot; decision is new, and will only start to show its devastating effects in the future. And as for the health care bill, requiring people to purchase private insurance that they may or may not be able to afford or else face a fine doesn&#39;t sound like a step up to me. But all right, I&#39;ll pretend for a moment that I do think the health care bill, at least, is a small step forward.<br /><br />In that case, though, I would like to see your evidence that this current healthcare reform is a basis for further progressive changes. What I see is the terribly unusual situation of a Democratic president with a Democratic Congress. This has happened only rarely throughout history, and judging from polling numbers, is very unlikely to happen again in the midterm election. Exactly when are the further changes going to happen? If THIS bill could barely pass a Congress that&#39;s in the terribly unusual situation of having way more Democrats than Republicans in it, how is a MORE progressive bill ever supposed to pass a future Congress that is likely to have MORE Republicans in it? I simply don&#39;t see any logic in that. This Congress, this President, this health care bill--they&#39;re as good as things get in the U.S., not a small step toward future glory.Jae/Jenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607520034520271802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-80349548116628885252010-03-22T08:38:28.221-07:002010-03-22T08:38:28.221-07:00Private companies can&#39;t &quot;take it away&quo...Private companies can&#39;t &quot;take it away&quot; any longer. That will be illegal under this bill. Prescription drug coverage is now a mandatory part of near-universal coverage. Meanwhile, 15 percent of Canadians lack drug coverage, and the issue barely mentions in the media.<br /><br />But more importantly, you&#39;re looking at the current *state* of things, not in the direction things are moving. The US has poor social programs, but is starting to strengthen them. Canada used to have strong social programs, but has been weakening them and will probably continue to weaken them. Eventually the two will cross.Tyronehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04517491466629482995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-44010051654859668552010-03-22T07:52:08.394-07:002010-03-22T07:52:08.394-07:00As I thought: The insurance companies are not too...As I thought: The insurance companies are not too worried &#39;bout the &quot;reform&quot; passed yesterday.<br /><br />Cigna&#39;s stock up 1% and Aetna&#39;s up .78%.<br /><br />Shakin&#39; in their boots, eh ? ? ? ?West End Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04899808253017644309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-45555817648426006282010-03-21T20:29:52.835-07:002010-03-21T20:29:52.835-07:00Thanks for writing again, IP! I&#39;ve been wonde...Thanks for writing again, IP! I&#39;ve been wondering whether you would be back before Harper come up for renewal.<br /><br />The situation in the States has been going on for a long time, perhaps since their Revolutionary War. What is happening now, with the Internet, is that people are finding out just how different the American reality actually is from the American propaganda, in near-realtime. &quot;We&#39;re #1!!!&quot; Apparently it doesn&#39;t matter <i>what</i> they are number one at. #1 in the world for highest healthcare costs per person! #1 in citizens of other countries killed! These things do not make me proud to be a US citizen. Canada is a much more sensible country.pyesetzhttp://pyesetz.livejournal.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-80912480724743896122010-03-21T15:59:16.143-07:002010-03-21T15:59:16.143-07:00I&#39;ve pretty much written the US off, I just ke...I&#39;ve pretty much written the US off, I just keep blogging occasionally from habit and some loyalty to my regulars.<br /><br />This health care bill... well, as I said elsewhere, folks are going to get what they asked for, good and hard. <br /><br />Idiots. Gutless idiots.Ian Welshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05686983280645481272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-69661702113986121952010-03-21T13:33:40.845-07:002010-03-21T13:33:40.845-07:00As another recovering American, I had such great h...As another recovering American, I had such great hopes for healthcare reform. But as soon as abortion entered the &#39;debate&#39; (sarcasm quotes), I knew it was toast. Merkins are quite literally insane over abortion.<br /><br />You really nailed it about the bleakness of Democrats in charge. It&#39;s just depressing.fern hillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05459318831672106272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-75639833894931965052010-03-21T13:21:18.610-07:002010-03-21T13:21:18.610-07:00It&#39;s the whole freaking country that&#39;s hop...<i>It&#39;s the whole freaking country that&#39;s hopeless.</i><br /><br />Unfortunately, that statement is very accurate. <br /><br />Hope you&#39;re doing well in your part of Canuckistan as we are in ours . . . .West End Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04899808253017644309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-44432496004246593102010-03-21T12:57:51.620-07:002010-03-21T12:57:51.620-07:00Bob,
Yeah, after it passes (because I do think it...Bob,<br /><br />Yeah, after it passes (because I do think it will pass), I sure hope there is some more critical analysis of what this new health care legislation will really mean. There aren&#39;t nearly enough people who have thought about it.<br /><br />And I don&#39;t blame Obama. I actually like Obama, as U.S. presidents go. It&#39;s the whole freaking country that&#39;s hopeless.Jae/Jenniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607520034520271802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-61704014555940854642010-03-21T12:49:19.172-07:002010-03-21T12:49:19.172-07:00Well, even though you may not be &quot;back,&quot;...Well, even though you may not be &quot;back,&quot; IP, thanks for expressing what &quot;drf&quot; and I feel about today&#39;s health care &quot;reform&quot; vote.<br /><br />What a sham, but it&#39;s exactly what we predicted would happen months ago. They&#39;ll approve the debacle, call it a &quot;victory&quot; and move on. Never mind that the real &quot;victory&quot; will probably be the insurance company&#39;s stock prices tomorrow once this crap passes the House.<br /><br />dems and repugs: Not a dime&#39;s worth of difference between the two of &#39;em, but the sheeple haven&#39;t figured it out yet . . . .West End Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04899808253017644309noreply@blogger.com